Space telegraphy.



J. S. STONE. SPACE -'IELEGRAPHY. APPLIGATION FILED FEB. 7, 1901.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

WIT E5555: 2 J3 M.

- citizen of the United States, and a resident some STONE STONE, or ZBQ$TQ1I,,MASS AC HUSET TS.-

' SPACE TELEGRAPHY. i

To all ivhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN STONE STONE, .a

of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in SpaceTelegra phy, of which the following. is a specifica tlon.

invention relates to the art of-transmitting intelligence by means of electromagnetic waves WltllOllt' the use of wires toguide the wavesto their destination, and it' relates more particularly toflsystems for de veloping such waves. v

The object of my invention is to-provide a space telegraph transmitting system whereby a practically continuous or un- ..damped'train of electromagnetic Waves of high frequency and large energymay be effic1ently.-radiated from an. elevated con ductor. I

In United States Letters- Patent No.

638,152, dated November- 28, 1899, I have disclosed a system for developing a continuone or undamped train of electrical oscilla-- tions of frequencies higher than thelimit of audibility for the transmission of speech over wires," and the adaptation to telegraphy without connecting wlres. of the general rinciple set forth in said Letters Patent has een describedin my U. S. Letters Patent No. 761,983, dated August 16,190 i. Reference may therefore be had to the aforesaid Letters Patent for a more complete description of a continuously-oscillating circuit and a more extended discussion of the principles involved than is'necessary to set forth in the. present specification. The system disclosed in my- Letters Patent- No. 767,983

is, however, limited either; in power or frequency, or in the control exercised by the oscillating circuit upon the spark gap.

In my United States Letters Patent No.

802,et27, dated 'Oct. 24:, 1905,I have shown how to-increase the power of a high-frequency transmitting systemwlthout decreasing the persistency of said systemv by em-- ploying a plurality of persistent high-frequency oscillating circuits connected in parallel to a common spark-gap; and I have discovered that, such parallel arrangement 'of high frequency oscillators,connectedto a common spark-gap not onlyincreases the power of the system without decreasing the persistency of said system, butmcreases both the control exercised by cont nuously osc l- Specification of Letters Patent. 7 Application filed February '7, 1907. Serial-No, 356,144.

Patented latingcircuits upon said spark-gap and also' inc'rease-si the frequency of the oscillations that may be developed with a given amount of power. 'Accor'dingly, by means of the Jan. '11-, 19 10.

system of circuits which constitutes the sub-- ject matter of thepres'en't inVentiOn I a'm' enabled not; only to increase, the frequency of the continuous or practically contlnuousoscillations developable with a given amount of energy in a c rcuit of the type described 1n my Letters PatentNo. 767,983ybl1t also 'cuit upon the spark gap.

It will he obvious that when a plurality of identical circuits of the type shown in to increase-the control'exercised by said .cir-

my Letters .Patent No. 7 67 ,983 are connected across a common gap and excited by a given source of energy, a 'much larger .amoun iof current will pass across the] gap than irithe case of .a single one of said circuits connected with said source; but ifeach one (of said identical circuits be so designed, that the resultant capacity of the system and the total inductance of the system are equal respectively to thecapacity and inductanceiof another circuit of 'the'same type, then the energy of said system will be found, other things being equal, to be greater than that of the said single circuit, Specifically,"if two clreuits havingscapacityc =0, and inductance lr 'l" are connected 'acrossthei 7' common gap and 0-=0=,c/2 and Z'=l' 2 Z, where 0 andl representfth e capacity and inductance of another circuit. having same naturalperiod as eachof the two circuits which are connected with the common gap, then the energyof the high frequency oscillations in the system consisting of the 1 two circuits-will be greater-than that of the oscillations-created in the said-single circuit, Furthermoi e the oscillations developed in the single circuit of the type shown in my Letters Patent No. 767,983 are only ractically continuous and. not absolutely; con; tinuous, being produced in groups each con sisting of alarge number-of osdillations of substantially constant am litude; but I have found that by the para lel. arrangement of such circuits described herein, the contin'uity-of the oscillations is increased, 2'. 6.,

thenumber-ofoscillations ii -each group is 7 increased and the intervals bet-ween the successive groups" is decreased, and this-result i is the more. pronounced 'as-th'e number of circuits employed is'i'ncreased, \Thus it will be seen that the arrangements ofcircuits herein. described not only results'in an increase of power out of proportion to the number of circuits employed, but also results in an increase of persistency and continuity.

In a circuit of the type shown in my Letters Patent No. 767,983, the frequency of the oscillations developed does not depend entirely upon the electromagnetic constants of the circuit as in the case where the circuit is energized by alternating current, in which case the frequency is equal approximately to but does depend among other things upon the current or energy taken from the supply circuit. As this current is increased, other things remaining unchanged, the frequency increases. By means of the parallel arrangement of circuits herein described, I am enabled without increasing the power supplied to the system or increasing the current taken from the supply circuit, to in crease the frequency of the oscillations developed in a given system. I

In a circuit of the type described in my Letters -Patent No. 802,427, commonly known as a sonorous circuit when energized by alternating current, the condenser always charges and discharges across the gap one or more times during each half cycle of the current in the power circuit, thereby creating oscillations in the sonorous circuit, and the problem of increasing the control exercised by the circuit on the gap obviously does not arise. However in a circuitof the type shown in my Letters Patent No. 7 67,983, oscillations will take place only between certain definite maximum and -minimum values of direct current in the arc. I have discovered that by connecting two or more such circuits in parallel with a common gap, the separation of said limiting maximum and minimum values of current is greatly increased. This means that in a given system of circuits connected in parallel with .a given gap, oscillations will be developed when the current in the arc is much less, and when it is much greater, than that vin the arc of a single one of said circuits; and accordingly the oscillations in said system for a given amount of ener y supplied will have a much wider range of frequency than those in said single circuit. Increasing the control exercised by the circuit upon the gap, as used herein, meansincreasing the range of the maximum and minimum values of direct current in the are within which oscillations will be, developed.

My invention may best be understood by having reference to the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of this specification and which represents in diagram one arrangement of apparatus and circuits K is a transmitting device herein shown as a key.

The circuit a G b is a circuit of large resistance or impedance and high electromo tive force. The circuits S 6 I and S C I, are. sonorous or oscillating circuits of large persistency and are both constructed'so as to have identical time periods and, preferably,

equal persistence functions. It will be understood of course that I do not limit myself to two oscillating circuits, but that any number of such circuits may be connected in parallel with respect to a common spark gap and that, if more than two circuits be employed, all will be desi ned to have identical time periods and, pre erably, equal persistence functions.

The windings of the transformers M M preferably are so arranged that the mutual energy of each circuit with'respect to the other circuits of the system is small compared to the self-energyof-said circuit, and this may be accomplished either by so spa tially adjusting the two windings of each transformer as torproduce. a transformer of large magnetic leakage or else by employing an auxiliary loading coil for swamping the effect of the mutual inductance between a primary and its corresponding secondary circuit, as more fully set forth in my Letters Patent No. 802,427, these two arrangements being equivalents.

While the spark gap S is shown in the drawings as a multiple series spark gap, it

will be understood that a spark gap-of any other suitable type may be employed and that such multiple-series gap is the equivae lent .in many respects of an artificially chilled single gap. I

It will be understood of course that an electric arc may be considered as made up of a large number of sparks, and that in the op-, eration of the apparatus herein described, the passage of the current across the gap S creates what is commonly known as an arc.

I claim:

1. In a space telegraph system, a plurality of oscillating circuits, each including a condenser and an inductance coil and all connected in parallel with respect to a common s ark gap, an elevated transmitting conuctor' including a plurality of parallel branches, each branch being associated With a different one of'said oscillating circuits, and a circuit of large resistance and high unidirectional electromotive force connected to the terminals of said spark gap.

2, In a space telegraph system, a plurality of oscillating circuits, each including a condenser and an inductance coil and all connected in parallel with respect toa common multiple-series spark gap, an elevated transmitting conductor including a plurality of parallel branches, each branch being associated with a different one of said oscillating circuits, and a circuit of large resistance and high unidirectional electromotive force connected to the terminals of said gap.

3. In a space telegraph system, a plurality of oscillating circuits, each including a condenser and an inductance coil and all connected in parallel with respect to a common spark-gap, an elevated transmitting conductor associated with all of said oscillating circuits, anda source of unidirectional electromotive force connected to the terminalsof said spark-gap. v

4. In an electromagnetic Wave transmitting system, a plurality of oscillating circuits, each including a condenserand an inductance coil and all connected in parallel with'respect to a common gap, an elevated transmitting conductor associated with all of said circuits, a source of unidirectional electromotive force connected to the terminals of said gap and a transmitting device operatively associated with said system.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this fifth day of F eb.,'.

JOHN STONE STONE. Witnesses:

GEORGE LEMIST CLARKE, G-Eo. K. Woonwonrn. 

